Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

I can not rightly be called any sort of astronomer (not even an  amateur)  but I certainly consider myself an aficionado of the night sky. For so many years it was mostly admiring Orion or Cassiopeia (of the few constellations I could easily find in a city sky) and enjoying the odd shooting star or two when I was lucky. (Best one ever was once in Kamloops oh so many years ago - we swear we could hear it!) Then we started travelling and found ourselves away from the big city lights on a much more regular basis which meant more chances to marvel at the beauty of the universe.   I can still picture the stunning scene I glimpsed during a middle of the night bathroom break in Dunedin. We were staying in a little room away from the main house so had to walk outside to get to the toilet. And despite it being under five degrees in the peak of a Dunedin summer, I made the trek one night and was gobsmacked by how many stars I could see. We were over a hill from the main city...

It's a long time when you're talking sporting skills. We took our mountain bikes out to the trails here back on Anzac Day and without intending to, started on the most difficult trail. I was trying to be all gung ho because the city tricked us into thinking it was a beautiful day. But 10-15 minutes away at the bike trails there was a fine rain coming down. So I tackled the tough trail until we hit a drop of a few meters. I decided it was a good idea to just walk my bike down but then I turned a corner and found another drop. Dustin was behind and hadn't quite started down before I said "nah" and walked my bike back up. We eventually found some mellower rides but boy did I get tired fast. The surprise to Dustin was that he used to fly off jumps like those we were riding around! So a few years ("few" being a bit generous to the fact that I am probably speaking of 7-8 years?) makes a major difference. Then on the other hand, a few years can feel like noth...